I have dual citizenship, US and British, and received my British passport a few weeks ago. My family lives in Northampton, so I want to move there, but not work there. Ideally, I want to find a job in London earning £60k+. My work experience is in finance (3 years) and I have an MBA. I'm 26 years old if that makes any difference. First, is this a realistic salary? (I was earning $70k/year at my previous job without having an MBA). Second, how should I go about networking before making the move? Third, does anyone here make the daily commute from Northampton to London? Is it worth it? Last, what strategies have worked best for you for finding a job? Thanks for any insight/advice you can provide!

P.S. I know some of you may be wondering why I want to move to Northampton and not just London. I have a large family that lives there that I only get to see once a year at best. I want to be with them, especially now that my grandparents are getting up there in age. I don't have many commitments in the US, so this may be my only time to make the move.

£60k sounds like a very ambitious aim - like you I have a Masters and have been working in my current job for three years, developing e-learning for the uni from which I graduated. I'm on just under half that, though to be fair, I don't know how well finance pays - obviously I don't know your specific role either, but I imagine you'd do well to get £40-45k at your age, with your qualifications and experience. $70k is £42k, for what it's worth.

Regarding the journey - depending where in London you want to work - you're looking at between a 60-90 minute drive into town, as London is straight down the M1 from Northampton, though this would obviously be more during the morning and evening rush. You could probably get the train down too, which would likely not take much more than an hour.

Regarding finding a job, I suppose I got a bit lucky - I sent out CVs via websites and recruitment agencies toward the end of my Master's. Little previous experience other than a placement year and a bit of small amount of personal projects. I got a few interviews for jobs in the £20k area, without success. However, our uni has an internal jobs board, I found my current post via that, and got the job based on several factors, for a decent amount more than the £20k I was originally aiming for.

No problem - like I say, I have little clue about the industry itself and what a ballpark figure might be. Finance in the City would be a great earner I'd imagine, definitely in comparison to a lot of industries for those our age. :) Just not sure how high.

And with the way things are in London right now, I think £50-60k is an achievable target in the right field, ludicrous as it sounds.

I'd suggest contacting some of the larger recruitment firms as a starting point, but google will also turn up many specialising in London finance jobs too.

Commuting from Northampton to London is probably manageable by train (don't consider driving into the centre of London on a regular basis though!), but it will depend on the connections either end of the journey, as they will be where your time goes. Maybe consider one of the towns on the mainline route between Northampton and London - easy drive north to Northampton, reasonable commute south to London.

I know, I was just trying to draw a few comparisons. I've a Masters in Computer Science, and it's similar to a Masters of Business Administration in terms of the amount of academic credits, length of study and format. MBAs are aimed more at managerial level but it's hardly unheard of for someone with an MSc to achieve the same (additionally, many MSc students are experienced learners as it is).

I know fuck all about finance, but I was in Northampton over the weekend and can tell you two things:

Yes, the journey between London and N'hampton is commutable. Train takes in the region of an hour and the station seems to be set up for regulars - with live screens showing the status of the tube at the other end, and the train itself terminates at Euston. However, if you're planning on joining one of the big dick firms, I would assume they're all based either in The City or around Canary Wharf (which will add anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour to that journey). And you will get very, very, very tired of that extra leg, very, very quickly - and will probably start to entertain notions of getting yourself a place actually in the city. Not least because the train company will gouge the shit out of you for the pleasure. Which brings me to:

I don't know what Northampton has to offer in the way of entertainment, but judging by the shitshow I watched on Saturday, soccer isn't it. Although there were a couple of highlights... I would just join London Master Race. Join us.

I have commuted Milton Keynes to Watford (same line as Northampton to London, but shorter either end).

I should say the above comment is what happens on a good day. There are a lot of things which can go wrong and very easily delay you by an hour or more. To make it worse, when things finally do get moving again the trains can be extremely crowded. Like, so full you couldn't physically fit another body in the carriage. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say this happens maybe twice a month (the delay, not necessarily the extreme crowding).

Then once in a while (maybe a few times a year) someone will jump in front of a train. The whole line stops for many hours, as it is initially a potential murder investigation. There is nothing worse than arriving home at 10pm knackered and hungry, knowing you will be up at 6:30am to do the same commute again.

Personally, I quickly found that commuting wasn't for me. But that's just me, plenty of people are fine with it.

As an aside, while the journey from Northampton is usually a little over an hour, there are fast trains from MK which do it in 30mins. Have you considered living in MK instead? You could save yourself over an hour in travel every day, and it is only a 20min drive to Northampton. Assuming you aren't intending to visit family every single day, it might make sense.

Can I ask why London? Northampton is smack in the middle of prime ground for rapidly developing cities and towns, like Milton Keynes, Luton, Reading & Oxford all within commuting distance and Northampton in it's own right has some of the world's best technology/motor racing companies around the area anyway.

You're still well within commuting prices and that will effect property (As you can imagine) - decent annual ticket prices for the train will set you back mid to high 4 digits numbers which is the alternative to driving.

I suppose networking could start within your previous or current job? The best networking I can recommend is to utilize fully the people you have worked with & for first rather than try to establish new bonds.

To be honest, I just assumed London would be the best place to foster a career in finance. I will definitely check out Milton Keynes, Luton, etc. They would be much easier to commute to. Unfortunately, my previous employer does not have any UK connections. My uncle is trying to put me in touch with potential employers in Northampton, so I am hoping something works out with that. Thanks, FatherCrilly!

Sorry that I'm a bit late to the party, but thought I'd chip in anyway.

Firstly, I used to live near Northampton and know that if you want to commute to London you are, as has been pointed out below, better off living in Milton Keynes as you can catch a Virgin train from there that will have you in Euston in half an hour while an London Midlands train from Northampton will more than double that. Trust me, working in finance is going to mean long, long hours in the office so you'll want to reduce the time it takes to get home afterwards because you'll want to maximise the sleep you can get. There's plenty of travel options to get to Northampton at the weekends even if you don't drive while you're in the UK - there's the train, and there's the Stagecoach X6 if you fancy a scenic journey along the delightfully beautiful A5.

As for finance, I guess the type of salary you're going to get offered is going to be largely dependent on the role, your experience and your qualifications. The regulatory bodies for the finance sector differ in the qualifications they require you to have before you can assume certain roles.

I recently joined an investment group as a financial coordinator with no relevant qualifications or experience but with the understanding that I can become a financial consultant in 2 years time as long as I study for, and pass, 5 exams (and a further 2 if I want to transfer to one of our US offices). I have no salary, I am paid purely on commission and that is dependent on the business that me and my consultant bring in together. If he earns £200k this year from clients that I've organised for him, I earn £40k. If he earns £150k from clients I've organised for him and £50k from clients he's set up for himself, I earn £30k. I have no idea what other types of financial jobs are out there, or what they offer, but it might be worth googling for recruitment agencies that specialise in your field and seeing what ads they're running as it'll give you an idea of the state of play.

Finance pays very well, but only if you're qualified.
I am currently only a Finance placement student (In London), so i'm only earning just above minimum wage, but I know the full time staff at work get paid £23k when they join the company (as graduates, this includes people coming from university with a masters degree). However as they pass their exams (ACCA, ACA, ICAEW, CIMA), they get very good payrises and end up on £34k-55k when qualified, and once qualified, many people switch jobs internally for better salaries.

If you join a large company, they should pay for these exams and provide study leave (approx 3 days per exam).

"Finance" covers a vast range of possibilities. The city of London is one of the worlds top two finance centers (New York being the other). The best paying jobs (and hardest to get) will be in investment banking, hedge funds, private equity, stockbrokers.

If you can get a job at this sort of company, your salary ambitions should be easily achievable (and then some). It would be harder (though maybe possible) to get that sort of money in the headquarters of a retail bank, in accountancy, in commerce or industry.

If you were in finance previously, see if your old firm has any connections in London, and ask them for coaching. Also ask your business school if they have connections in London, and talk to them. If you went to a top tier business school, you could probably call the careers advice people at London Business. School and see if they could give you any advice or coaching.

Unless you have the connection, those jobs are very hard to get. It will be easier to get a job within a Finance team for a large company rather companies such as a bank or PWC. A job within a Finance team usually focuses on Internal Auditing, Controls and reporting. From my experience so far, these jobs don't pay well unless you're qualified.